Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Olive Oils: Who Knew?

Midtown Olive Press is a business in our area (North Hills) that sells wonderful flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegar, among other items, such as aprons, pottery and oil dispensers.

A group of women from our neighborhood went there Tuesday evening; we listened to a talk about extra-virgin olive oils and how they differ from the kind of oils you might purchase from a grocery or shopping club. You might be amazed to hear how different the good quality oils are.

For a fee of $10 per person, we were treated to a wonderful bevy of appetizers, all of which had been made with various types/flavors of olive oils. Our group had planned to go out to dinner after the talk and sampling, but we ate so many appetizers that we opted to go home instead. We had a tasty salad with flavored oil, grilled shrimp with blood orange olive oil (I bought some!), bruschetta with another type of oil, prosciutto and cheese, and fresh berries with a drizzle of flavored oil and chocolate cream. I could have eaten much more, but I didn't because I thought we were going to dinner.

One of the perks of booking the talk was that we were given a 10% discount on any purchases on that night. I recommend booking a talk for your group. The owner also owns another Olive Press in Greensboro, NC, but I understand that there are similar businesses throughout the country. You may want to investigate one in your city. Check out the link at the top of the post; there are recipes there.